''Tom Thumb and Little Red Riding Hood'' () is a 1962 Mexican

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

adventure film directed by Roberto Rodríguez. The film features the

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

and

Tom Thumb Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. ''The History of Tom Thumb'' was published in 1621 and was the first known fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, ...

in conflict with the

Witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

Queen and her minions. The queen resembles the

Evil Queen The Evil Queen (), also called the Wicked Queen or simply the Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. In the Grimm's story, the Queen is Snow White's stepmother o ...

from

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' (1937). Also depicted is the queen's

overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or ...

the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

Background

It is a sequel to two other imported films, ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (1960) and ''Little Red Riding Hood and Friends'' (1961). The dubbed version of the film was theatrically released in United States by

K. Gordon Murray K. Gordon Murray (1922–1979) was an American producer, most notable for his redubbing and re-releasing of foreign fairy tale films for U.S. audiences. He is often cited as the "King of the Kiddie Matinee." Murray also marketed many of the Mexp ...

in 1965. The film was also released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

by Something Weird Video in 2002. An uncut version of the film with English subtitles was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

as ''Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. the Monsters''.

Plot

The film follows the adventures of

(Maria Gracia) and

(

Cesáreo Quezadas Cesáreo Quezadas Cubillas (born 18 December 1950) is a Mexican actor. He took the stage name of Pulgarcito from the film of the same name in which he debuted in 1957. During the 1960s he achieved worldwide fame for acting in many films. However, ...

) and their friends, fighting against the powerful and cruel

Queen (

Ofelia Guilmáin Ofelia Guilmáin (17 November 1921 – 14 January 2005) was a Spanish actress. She is also the mother of actors Juan Ferrara and Lucía Guilmáin. Two of her grandchildren, sons of Ferrara, Mauricio Bonet, Mauricio and Juan Carlos Bonet, are als ...

). The film starts at the meeting of the evil monsters in the castle in the Haunted Forest, heart of the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

's dominion, during which the

Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

(Quintín Bulnes) accuses the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''. Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory ant ...

(

Manuel Valdés Fernando Manuel Alonso Gómez de Valdés y Castillo, also known as "El Loco" Valdés, (29 January 1931 – 28 August 2020) was a Mexican actor and comedian. A member of the Valdés family, he was the brother of Ramón Valdés, who portrayed Don ...

) and The

Ogre An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

(

José Elías Moreno José Elías Moreno (12 November 1910 – 15 July 1969) was a Mexican character actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1937 and 1969. He was from the state of Jalisco. His José Elías Moreno Jr., son of the same name, born in 1956 ...

) of betraying the Witch Queen (La Reina Bruja, renamed the Queen of Badness in the English dub and resembling the Wicked Queen from

''), who orders them to be executed. Their friend Stinky the

Skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

(Santanón) escapes, however, and informs Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb, who promise to help. Meanwhile, the Queen and her sister the Old Witch cast a terrible

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

, turning villagers into monkeys and mice for trying to defy her magic. The rest of the story details the heroes'

quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nat ...

to save their friends and the children and put an end to the evil. They meet and defeat various monstrous minions of both the Witch Queen and her master

until the final battle in her castle. With the death of the Queen, Big Bad Wolf and Ogre are saved and the villagers are restored to their human forms.

References

External links

*
The entire film officially posted by Sonder Eyes on YouTubeMark Jordan Legan's review of ''Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters'' on Slate's official YouTube channel
{{Little Red Riding Hood 1962 films 1960s fantasy adventure films Mexican children's films Mexican fantasy adventure films 1962 musical films 1960s Spanish-language films Films based on Tom Thumb Films based on Little Red Riding Hood 1960s English-language films 1960s Mexican films Mexican sequel films Films about queens Films about witchcraft Films set in castles Films set in forests Mexican vampire films Big Bad Wolf Ogres in film Films about curses Films about shapeshifting The Devil in film English-language musical films English-language fantasy adventure films

Background

Plot

See also

References

External links